Ahhh, summer. From lazy moments on the porch, to picnics in the park, to bike rides with friends, to jumping into your first glistening-loon-serenaded-lake of the season, to eating fresh from the farm plums, peaches and summer berries bought at the farmers' market ~ summer charms us all with its confetti of beauty infinite beauty.

This week, the market becomes even more beautiful with the help of two very special guests from The Beach Studio Tour: Karen Franzen and Jane Saracino!

Special Guests: The Beach Studio Tour

Thanks to these Beach Studio Tour friends for joining us this week at the market!

KAREN FRANZEN CERAMICSKaren Franzen makes ceramic work that is colourful and joyous, and strives to add beauty to the rituals of everyday life.

Karen studied ceramics, printmaking, and textile design at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Throughout her studies she worked part time in the colour lab at a silk supply store, mixing vast quantities of 100 intense liquid colours and pouring them into tall bottles. Karen describes herself as an incurable colour junkie and collector of stories, and she rarely travels anywhere without her pink covered ipad/ camera. Jonathan (Karen's son ) has thus named the ipad "the second son". Karen is a big supporter of many local community revitalization projects in the Coxwell and Gerrard community, including the Fairmount Park Farmers' market, The Friends of Smalls Creek Ravines, and the abundant funky retail establishments that are popping up in the 'hood.

Karen's studio is situated under a canopy of trees (on The Lower Williamson ravine on smalls Creek) which is open year round by appointment. If you are interested in taking a class or if you'd like to experience Karen Franzen and friends' 14th Annual Holiday Show, Dec 6-8, connect with her via email kare.franzen@sympatico.ca and visit her website www.karenfranzen.com Karen's most recent group exhibition was entitled " Parallel Journeys". Here she created cake plates with lids that looked edible , paying homage to her paternal grandmother, and her mom who were known for their delicious and beautiful cakes.

JANE SARACINO ~ SARACINO DESIGNSJane Saracino is a Toronto-based handbag and accessories designer with a growing clientele of women who’ve complemented their wardrobe with one of her artfully – and meticulously – designed handbags and wearable art. Highly creative and downright enthusiastic, Toronto based designer Jane Saracino is a quality conscience individual critically aware of each patterned snip and stitch. "I believe that women want a handbag that is not only beautiful but also functional" says Jane. "These days, it goes without saying that eco-friendly fashions are de riguer, but, girl, nobody said they had to be depressing or dowdy. The fashion conscious are increasingly environmentally conscious. We all want to reuse and recycle what we have. Still, that doesn’t mean burlap bags masquerading as fashion accessories are going to do it. I derive so much joy when I’m able to incorporate scraps of materials, found FUN objects and lost little gems with lots of flare into a one-of-a-kind hand bag or adorable shopping tote for a client. It’s about being good to yourself – and good to the planet – with style"! All handbags are made in Jane’s studio.www.facebook.com/saracinodesignshttp://www.pinterest.com/janesaracino

Vendors This Week

Vendors away this week...Grinder on Main is away on vacation, Abokichi and Hamlin Honey attend bi-weekly, so will be back on August 20th. Stoddart Family Farm will keep us posted as they wait for their truck to be fixed!

Best of the Season

Peaches: It's that time of year when all we can think about are peaches! Our market peaches come from Beamsville, Ontario in the Niagra Region. They are grown by Torrey Warner on Warner's Farm. Paul and Veronica work with Torrey and have their own greenhouse on his farm.

Ground Cherries from Cedar Hedge Farm: These "cherries" are related to tomatillos and chinese lanterns. Wrapped in a lovely package with flavours that range from tomato to cherries to pineapple depending on the variety, these little fellows are a fun market find. Visit Chris, early, to be a lucky customer.

Cross Wind Farm Saanen Silk Cheese a delicate bloomy rind goat cheese! Need we say more? Stop by Cross Wind's booth and hope there is some left to take home and enjoy with some Blackbird Bread and a glass of wine.

Multi-Colour Carrots from Wheelbarrow FarmBrightly coloured carrots make that crunch so much more rewarding and how lucky are we to have the freshest of fresh at the market.

Bushels of Basil from Highmark! We don't know about you, but buying 'packed' basil at the grocery store just doesn't cut it. We opt to buy basil by the bushel, make pesto and freeze it to get us through the winter.

School Grown - Blender Bike Fundraiser!

The students from School Grown will be selling bike-powered watermelon smoothies at the market next week as part of a campaign to fundraise $2500. Jack Johnson and the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation (through All At Once, Jack's social action network) will match all donations made to the program. Let's help this fantastic project meet their goal so they can keep on growing!